By Gareth Davies

NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH (SATURDAY)

Hemel Hempstead Town 3 Truro City 0

TWO Brandon Barzey goals and a single strike from Joe White saw Hemel Hempstead Town defeat Truro City 3-0 in Hertfordshire.

The Tinners fell behind after 12 minutes when Montserrat international Barzey side-footed home, before he headed the Tudors’ second just before the break.

Sandwiched between Barzey’s strikes, Manny Maja fired over twice while striker Andrew Neal hit the woodwork.

After the turnaround, Hemel sat on their advantage as a City side depleted by injury found the hosts a tough nut to crack. However, as time ticked down, Neal, substitute Dom Johnson-Fisher and debutant Jamil Roberts all went close to setting up a grandstand finish.

But at the other end, White glanced home a third for Hemel as their upturn in fortunes under new boss Lee Allison continued.

City chief John Askey was forced to eventually make four changes from the side which defeated Aveley at the TCS seven days previously.

Initially it only looked like there were three as Ryan Law (knee), Tyler Harvey (hamstring) and Will Dean (suspension) were all missing.

The trio of City absentees were replaced by Zac Bell, Jaze Kabia and Manny Maja respectively.

And in the warm-up, City were dealt a further blow when Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain felt his groin tighten and his place in the starting line-up was taken by Ben Adelsbury.

The opening exchanges of the game were fairly even until Barzey finished from close-range with George Williams, Hemel’s outstanding former Welsh international, providing the assist.

Maja then had two shots from outside the box clear the bar before Neal profited from home custodian Craig King’s error. However, from a tight angle, Neal was denied by the woodwork.

Connor Riley-Lowe then delivered a pin-point free-kick into the corridor of uncertainty, only for the ball to evade everyone and bounce favourably for Hemel.

City’s final chance of the half saw Kabia pick out Neal, on the stretch, but the latter couldn’t divert the ball past King.

The game-changing second goal arrived with four minutes of regulation time remaining in the first half as Barzey headed home unmarked from inside the six-yard box.

After the turnaround, proceedings were scrappy with City’s injury woes continuing as Sam Sanders were forced off after an accidental coming together with King. Shortly after, Barzey hit the top of the crossbar with a long-range free-kick.

Hemel went close again as captain Kyle Ajayi headed over when well placed, before Johnson-Fisher fired narrowly over with City’s first real opportunity of the second stanza.

And the former Whitehawk attacker nearly set up a tense finale seven minutes from time when he was denied by the legs of King. The ball then fell to Kabia, who crossed for Neal, only for the City striker to head straight at the now overworked home custodian.

The late City onslaught continued when Roberts, shortly after being thrust into the fray, fired agonisingly across the face of goal and after picking up possession, Hemel broke and White headed home to seal victory.

The Tinners welcome Bath City to the Truro City Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

TRURO CITY: Lavercombe, Harrison, Adelsbury, Sanders (Johnson-Fisher, 60), Bell, Palfrey, Maja (Bates, 72), En-Neyah (Roberts, 86), Riley-Lowe (capt), Kabia, Neal. Sub not used: Jones.